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FS impressed by APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting
The Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, said today (Sunday) after the Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum that he was enormously impressed by the forward-looking approach taken by the Meeting.
"Leaders readily adopted the Action Agenda, and then went on to share ideas on the way forward and exchange views on issues of common concern," Mr Tsang said.
"They also congratulated Japan, as Chair of this year's APEC, on its determined and thorough management of the process.
"Individual Leaders had also outlined the problems they faced in reforming their economies. Clearly, each economy faces different problems in the process of liberalisation and deregulation. I was impressed by their readiness to share their concerns and to look for common solutions.
"The strength of APEC lies in both this diversity and this sense of solidarity in working towards a common goal," he added.
Referring to the Action Agenda, Mr Tsang described it as a remarkable
achievement.
"This meeting actually took APEC to a new plateau. I am very confident that in the years to come APEC is going to be the best forum and the focus of economic activities in this part of the world.
"APEC is such a young organisation, and this is only the third Economic Leaders' Meeting. It is remarkable for it to have achieved so much within such a short period of time. So we should watch out for the detailed Action Plans that each economy is going to bring to Subic next year."
In response to questions about what Hong Kong had to offer in its package of initial actions, Mr Tsang said Hong Kong had indeed almost reached the final goal of trade liberalisation.
"Our tariffs are de facto at zero. So what we are doing is to bind ourselves legally to remaining free in future."
End/Sunday, November 19, 1995
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